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Molly Payne, Vinnie Paolizzi & Dustin Brown.

As the new year dawned, the first emerging artist that started buzzing on our radar was a California native living in Nashville with an emotional country-noir debut album called Silver Rounds. She was Olivia Wolf, and now months later, her album has proven its staying power, with critical acclaim and a long run on the Americana chart. She’s no youngster, so our conversation dives into her background and her long, patient journey to fully committing herself as a songwriter/artist. That story includes coming of age at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival and a tragic event in her life that inspired many of her best songs.

Featuring Webb Wilder Scott Cook & Gold Coast.

Eddie Adcock grew up in rural Virginia, left home at age 14 to evade farm work, and wound up boxing and playing music with regional bands. He sold a calf to buy his first banjo and learned to play the instrument in a couple of weeks before his first gig. That’s just part of Eddie’s amazing story, whose most famous chapter is his decade-plus with the classic lineup of the Country Gentlemen. The beloved musician died in March at 86 years old, and we pay tribute to the bluegrass hall of famer this hour with a couple of jaw dropping instrumentals included in a special set. Also this week, the first single on Sun Records for the Steeldrivers and new sides by Mason Via, Ashby Frank, and Special Consensus. Amy’s own Golden Shoals duo has a new one featuring Mark Kilianski’s masterful guitar picking as well.

Susto is a popular indie folk and rock collective from Charleston, SC founded and led by songwriter Justin Osborne. Holler Choir is a progressive bluegrass and folk band from Asheville, NC led by the voice of songwriter Clint Roberts. Through what they call serendipitous connections, these creative forces joined up to spawn the Susto String Band. Not only are they touring around, they made a dynamic album on New West that they called Vol. 1, the most optimistic title one can lend to a project. We play the jaunty opening track “Mt. Caroline” in this show, but there are more great songs we’ll be visiting in future weeks. Also new this week is a collaborative single from Missy Raines and Allegheny that includes west coast bluegrass legends Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick. Balsam Range dropped a powerful single featuring vocals by new part-time collaborator Don Rigsby. And Alison Brown and Steve Martin are back at it with a song by Steve and a vocal by Tim O’Brien. It's about the road life that Amy Alvey knows so well: “Five Days Out, Two Days Back.” Oh yeah, and we have the new Seldom Scene singing Bob Dylan, so not bad!

JD Clayton is one of the first emerging artists to release music in an era of new leadership at the historic Rounder Records in Nashville. He’s an open-hearted guy who got the songwriting bug growing up in Fort Smith, AR and who then found his songs and his way on stage led to organic growth. His 2023 album Long Way From Home got him out on the road in a big way and led to some high profile opening shows. He produced his new album Blue Sky Sundays, a fresh and catchy take on country rock, with his brotherly band. He seems to embody the ethos of his feel-good song “High Hopes & Low Expectations.”

Featuring Matt Siffert, Melissa Erin & Pug Johnson.

Sean McConnell was born to do this. His parents were working songwriters who helped him get started as a teen in Atlanta. He landed a long-term song publishing deal while still in school at MTSU and earned cuts by Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Brett Young, and the TV show Nashville. Over 15 recordings - his latest is the lovely and agonizingly honest Skin - McConnell has become a beloved troubadour on the indie folk circuit and an honorary red dirt Texas poet through extensive touring there. Now he’s grown as a producer working out of his unique studio in Nolensville. I made a trip down there to interview Sean in his cozy working habitat.

Featuring Lance Cowan, Jessie Gray & Tim Gartland.

Featuring Tom Hampton, Korby Lenker & Muriel Anderson.